Hey Gran, good morning. 50 Degrees!? That's not right - have we had any snow cover?
No snow cover at all. According to my farmer, this is good. The frost is at least 6 inches deep, due to 10 degree temps last week. A deep frost will supposedly kill all the bugs and mellow out the ground for a better seedbed.
Last year we had a deep snow cover on thawed ground, and the snow acted as insulation over the soil,, there wasn't much frost in the ground. Altho I like the idea of that for my perennials and shrubs, apparently it is not conductive to good farming conditions.